Why abortion is wrong?
We find harmony among three approaches to the question of abortion:
Scientific:
We can see that the unborn child is a separate, distinct, and irreplaceable member of our species.
Moral:
Killing the innocent has universally been recognized as a great evil.
Spiritual:
Fifth Commandment: Thou shalt not kill.
When supporters of legalized abortion describe the unborn child, they consistently misrepresent the human being slated for death by abortion. Even a cursory review of embryology reveals that even the earliest abortions stop a beating human heart. Abortifacients destroy a sophisticated organism that, unless killed, will mature as all human beings do and pass through all the life phases of a human life.
Morally, supporters of abortion betray their own convictions. How can one argue that the right to bodily integrity does not include a right not to have that body utterly destroyed? How can one argue a right to personal choices while denying a human being all choice?
Spiritually, believers must recall that God, and God alone, is not only the author of life, but sustains and cares for each and every one of us. To destroy the child, made in the image and likeness of God, is to deny God’s sovereignty. To dismiss Scriptural admonition to care for the weak and vulnerable is to betray Christ. To sin for fear of having one’s life plans upset, or fear of poverty, or any other fear, is to deny God’s role as sustainer and to betray a lack of trust in His plans, both for our unborn children and for ourselves.
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart”
-Jeremiah 1:5
“The development of a human being begins with fertilization, a process by which two highly specialized cells, the spermatozoon from the male and the oocyte from the female, unite to give rise to a new organism, thezygote.”
[Langman, Jan. Medical Embryology. 3rd edition. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, 1975, p. 3]
“Human embryos, whether they are formed by fertilization (natural or in vitro) or by successful somatic-cell nuclear transfer (SCNT — i.e., cloning), do have the internal resources and active disposition to develop themselves to the mature stage of a human organism, requiring only a suitable environment and nutrition. In fact, scientists distinguish embryos from other cells or clusters of cells precisely by their self-directed, integral functioning — their organismal behavior. Thus, human embryos are what the embryology textbooks say they are, namely, human organisms — living individuals of the human species — at the earliest developmental stage.”
– Dr. Robert George
“Abortion and racism are both symptoms of a fundamental human error. The error is thinking that when someone stands in the way of our wants, we can justify getting that person out of our lives. Abortion and racism stem from the same poisonous root, selfishness.”
-Alveda King
The Exception:
Preserving the life of the mother.
This exception is justified through the Principle of Double Effect.
1) “The nature of the act is itself good, or at least morally neutral.”
It is good to save the life of a mother whose life is in danger.
2) “The agent intends the good effect and not the bad either as a means to the good or as an end itself”
The intent of the procedure is not to take away the life of a child, rather to preserve the life of the mother. The death of a child is an unintended consequence therefore it was not immoral.
3) “The good effect outweighs the bad effect in circumstances sufficiently grave to justify causing the bad effect and the agent exercises due diligence to minimize the harm.”
While it is unfortunate to lose an unborn child, the death of a wife, mother, sister, or daughter would be much more devastating within a family unit.
